Nuance OmniPage Pro 9.0 Operating instructions

OmniPage

®

Pro

User’s Manual

CAERE CORPORATION

100 Cooper Court

Los Gatos, California

95032-7603 USA

ii

Caere GmbH

Innere Wiener Strasse 5

81667 München, Germany

Caere UK Information Centre

Abbey House

4 Abbey Orchard Street

Westminster, London SW1P 2JJ

Centre d’informations Caere

72, rue Baratte-Cholet

94100 Saint-Maur, France

Please Note

To use this program, you should know how to work in the Microsoft Windows environment. Please

refer to Windows documentation if you have questions about how to use menu commands, dialog

boxes, scroll bars, edit boxes, and so on.

OmniPage Pro for Windows

Version 9

OmniPage Pro®, PageKeeper®, Language Analyst®, 3D OCR®, AutoOCR Toolbar™, True Page®,

and OCR Proofreader are trademarks of Caere Corporation

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are

claimed as trademarks. Such designations appearing in this manual have been printed in initial

capitals.

800-1288-030A

iii

Table of Contents

Welcome

Using This Manual............................................................................................................viii

Chapter 1 Installation and Setup

Minimum System Requirements.........................................................................................2

Installing OmniPage Pro .....................................................................................................2

Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro...................................................................................3

Registering OmniPage Pro ..................................................................................................5

Chapter 2 Introduction to OmniPage Pro

What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?................................................................8

OmniPage Pro’s OCR Capabilities ..............................................................................8

Basic Steps of OmniPage Pro OCR .............................................................................9

The OmniPage Pro Desktop .............................................................................................10

AutoOCR Toolbar .......................................................................................................11

Standard Toolbar..........................................................................................................12

Zone Toolbar.................................................................................................................12

Options Dialog Box......................................................................................................13

Getting Online Help ...........................................................................................................14

Help Menu ....................................................................................................................14

Context-Sensitive Help................................................................................................15

Product Support ..................................................................................................................16

Chapter 3 Processing Documents

Ways to Process Documents..............................................................................................18

Using the OCR Wizard................................................................................................18

Automatic Processing

.................................................................................................19

Performing Multiple Tasks at Once...........................................................................19

Starting the OCR Process Outside OmniPage Pro ..................................................19

Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro ...........................................................20

Scanning Pages .............................................................................................................20

Loading Image Files ....................................................................................................20

Creating Zones for OCR ....................................................................................................22

Creating Zones Automatically ...................................................................................22

iv

Performing OCR on a Document .....................................................................................23

Proofreading OCR Results ................................................................................................24

Verifying Text ..............................................................................................................25

Proofreading OCR Results in Microsoft Word .......................................................25

Using OCR in Other Applications ...................................................................................29

Working with Documents .................................................................................................30

Resizing a Page View .................................................................................................31

Changing Pages ...........................................................................................................31

Reordering Pages ........................................................................................................32

Deleting Pages .............................................................................................................32

Printing a Document ..................................................................................................33

Closing a Document ...................................................................................................33

Exporting Documents ........................................................................................................34

Saving a Document......................................................................................................34

Copying a Document to the Clipboard ....................................................................36

Sending a Document as a Mail Attachment ............................................................37

Chapter 4 OmniPage Pro Settings

Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands ............................................................................40

AUTO Button Commands..........................................................................................41

Image Button Commands...........................................................................................41

Zone Button Commands.............................................................................................42

OCR Button Commands .............................................................................................43

Export Button Commands..........................................................................................44

Selecting OmniPage Pro Settings......................................................................................45

Accuracy Settings................................................................................................................46

Scanner Settings...................................................................................................................46

Page Format Settings ..........................................................................................................47

Tables Settings .....................................................................................................................47

Language Settings...............................................................................................................48

OCR Aware Settings ...........................................................................................................48

Process Settings ...................................................................................................................49

Microsoft Word Settings ....................................................................................................50

Settings Guidelines .............................................................................................................51

Chapter 5 Customizing OCR

Adjusting Page Images Before OCR.................................................................................62

Customizing Zones.............................................................................................................63

Zone toolbar..................................................................................................................63

Drawing Zones Manually ..........................................................................................64

Modifying Text and Graphic Zones..........................................................................65

Modifying Table Zones ...............................................................................................69

Deleting Zones..............................................................................................................71

Changing Zone Properties..........................................................................................71

Creating Zone Templates............................................................................................73

v

Specifying Fonts...................................................................................................................74

Training OCR for Special Characters ...............................................................................75

Creating User Dictionaries.................................................................................................77

Saving Settings Files............................................................................................................78

Scheduling OCR ..................................................................................................................80

Scheduling Individual Documents............................................................................80

Scheduling Documents from an Input Folder ........................................................81

Modifying Output Options for Documents .............................................................83

Chapter 6 Technical Information

General Troubleshooting Solutions .................................................................................86

Solutions to Try First ...................................................................................................86

Testing OmniPage Pro.................................................................................................87

Low Memory Problems...............................................................................................88

Low Disk Space Problems...........................................................................................88

Supported File-Format Types............................................................................................89

Scanner Setup Issues...........................................................................................................91

Scanner Drivers Supplied by the Manufacturer......................................................91

Scanner Drivers Supplied by Caere...........................................................................92

Scan Manager is Needed with OmniPage Pro ........................................................92

Problems Connecting OmniPage Pro to Your Scanner ..........................................93

Missing

Scan Image

Command

...................................................................................94

Scanner Message on Launch.......................................................................................94

System Crash Occurs While Scanning ......................................................................94

Scanner Not Listed in Supported Scanners List Box...............................................95

Scanning Tips................................................................................................................95

OCR Problems......................................................................................................................96

System Crash During OCR.........................................................................................96

Text Does Not Get Recognized Properly..................................................................97

Problems With Fax Recognition.................................................................................98

Uninstalling the Software...................................................................................................99

vi

vii

Welcome

Welcome to OmniPage Pro, and thank you for using our software!

The following documentation has been provided to help you learn

about OmniPage Pro.

This User’s Manual

This manual introduces you to the basics of using OmniPage Pro. It

includes installation and setup instructions, an introduction to

OmniPage Pro, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize

processing, settings guidelines, and technical information.

This manual is also available as an electronic PDF file. To open the file,

click

Start

in the Windows taskbar and choose

Programs

Caere

Applications

Caere Documents OmniPage Pro Manual

after OmniPage

Pro has been installed.

Online Help

OmniPage Pro’s online Help contains detailed information on features,

settings, and procedures. The online Help conforms to Windows 95

Help conventions and has been designed for quick and easy information

retrieval. Please see “Getting Online Help” on page 14 for more

information.

Readme File

The

Readme

file contains last-minute information about the software.

Please read it before using OmniPage Pro. To open this text file, click

Start

in the Windows taskbar and choose

Programs

Caere

Applications

Caere Documents OmniPage Pro Readme

after OmniPage

Pro has been installed.

Scanner Setup Notes

The

Scanner Setup Notes

contains information about supported scanners

and related issues. To open this PDF file, click

Start

in the Windows

taskbar and choose

Programs

Caere Applications Caere Documents

Scanner Setup Notes

after OmniPage Pro has been installed.

Using This Manual

viii

Using This Manual

This manual is written with the assumption that you know how to work

in the Microsoft Windows environment. Please refer to your Windows

documentation if you have questions about how to use dialog boxes,

menu commands, scroll bars, drag and drop functionality, shortcut

menus, and so on.

The following conventions are used in this manual.

Convention Purpose

Italicized text

• Emphasizes menu commands,

dialog box options, labeled

buttons, and file names

For example:

“Choose

Open...

in the File

menu.”

• Emphasizes new terms the

first time they are used

• Emphasizes important words

in a sentence

Note symbol

Introduces a tip or an item of

note

Warning symbol

Introduces important

information

1

Chapter 1

Installation and Setup

This chapter provides installation and setup information for OmniPage

Pro and the Scan Manager.

For technical and troubleshooting information, please read Chapter 6,

Technical Information.

For information on supported scanners and scanner setup, read the

Scanner Setup Notes

. To open this PDF file, click

Start

in the Windows

taskbar and choose

Programs

Caere Applications Caere Documents

Scanner Setup Notes

after OmniPage Pro has been installed.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Minimum System Requirements

• Installing OmniPage Pro

• Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro

• Registering OmniPage Pro

Minimum System Requirements

2 Chapter 1

Minimum System Requirements

You need the following setup, at minimum, to install and run OmniPage

Pro:

• Computer with a 486 or higher processor

• Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0

• 16MB of memory (RAM)

• 45MB of free hard disk space to install application files, the Scan

Manager, and one OCR language

55MB to install above files and all OCR languages

• SVGA or VGA monitor with 256 colors

• Windows-compatible pointing device

• CD-ROM drive for installation

• A compatible scanner if you plan to scan documents

Please see the

Scanner Setup Notes

for a list of tested scanners.

Performance and speed will be enhanced if your computer’s processor,

memory, and available disk space exceed the minimum requirements.

Installing OmniPage Pro

OmniPage Pro’s Setup program takes you through installation with

onscreen instructions at every step.

Before installing OmniPage Pro:

• Make sure your scanner is connected, turned on, and compatible

with your system.

• Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs.

• Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are

installing on Windows NT.

If you own a previous version of OmniPage Pro, or if you are upgrading

from OmniPage Limited Edition, it is strongly recommended that you

uninstall that product first and then restart your computer.

Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro

Installation and Setup 3

To install OmniPage Pro:

1 Insert OmniPage Pro’s CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.

The Setup program should start automatically. If it does not

start, locate your CD-ROM drive in Windows Explorer and

double-click the Setup.exe program at the top-level of the

CD-ROM.

2 Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software.

During installation, you may be prompted to enter a serial

number. You can find your serial number on the label of the

CD-ROM envelope.

The Caere Scan Manager is installed during OmniPage Pro installation.

You will be prompted to select your scanner manufacturer and model in

the Scan Manager so that you can use your scanner with OmniPage Pro.

Read the

Scanner Setup Notes

for the most detailed information about

scanner support and setup. You can open the Notes after OmniPage Pro

has been installed by clicking

Start

in the Windows taskbar and

choosing

Programs

Caere Applications Caere Documents

Scanner

Setup Notes

.

Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro

If you plan to scan, make sure your scanner is attached to your computer

and turned on before you start OmniPage Pro.

To start OmniPage Pro, do one of the following:

•Click

Start

in the Windows taskbar and choose

Programs

Caere

Applications

OmniPage Pro 9.0

.

(Use the program group you selected during installation if it is

different than

Caere Applications

.)

• Double-click the OmniPage Pro icon located in the folder where

you installed OmniPage Pro.

Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro

4 Chapter 1

OmniPage Pro’s desktop appears when you open OmniPage Pro. See

“The OmniPage Pro Desktop” on page 10 for an introduction to

OmniPage Pro’s user interface.

Closing OmniPage Pro

Choose

Exit

in the file menu to close OmniPage Pro. You are prompted

to save the current document if you have not saved it or have modified

it since the last save.

The image viewer

displays the current

page’s original image.

The text viewer displays the

current page’s recognized

text and retained graphics.

Standard

toolbar

AutoOCR

toolbar

Zone

toolbar

The

thumbnail

viewer

displays the

pages in an

open

document.

Registering OmniPage Pro

Installation and Setup 5

Registering OmniPage Pro

Register your copy of OmniPage Pro with Caere Corporation to receive

notification of special offers and the best prices on product upgrades.

Some versions of OmniPage Pro will only launch 25 times if you do not

register it.

If you purchased your product directly from Caere or if you were

previously registered, you may not need to register again. Your version

of OmniPage Pro will not display a

Register

menu if you do not need to

register it.

To register OmniPage Pro:

1 Click the

Register

menu to open the Register dialog box.

2 Click

Register Now

.

3 Fill out the information requested on the screen and then click

4 Follow the instructions on the screen.

OmniPage Pro will decide on the best method of registration

according to your country and computer system. It may try

using modem, FTP, or HTTP connections to transmit your

registration information directly. Or, it may prompt you to call

a phone number or print out and mail in your registration

information.

After registration is complete, you will be given a registration number.

Be sure to write that number down and keep it handy in case you need

to use it for reinstallation. If you reinstall OmniPage Pro using your

registration number on the same computer, you will not have to go

through the entire registration process again to reregister it.

To reregister OmniPage Pro after reinstallation:

1 Click the

Register

menu to open the Register dialog box.

2 Click

Reregister

.

3 Type in your registration number and click

OK

.

6 Chapter 1

7

Chapter 2

Introduction to

OmniPage Pro

You probably use your computer for most business correspondence and

other written projects. The challenge is that certain sources of

information cannot be immediately used on a computer.

For example, if you want to incorporate information from a magazine

article into a document in your word processor, you somehow have to

get the text from the article into your computer. Painstakingly retyping

the article is not an appealing solution.

OmniPage Pro offers a smart solution to increase your work

productivity. OmniPage Pro’s

optical character recognition (OCR)

technology accurately and easily converts scanned paper documents

and image files into editable text for use in your favorite computer

applications. OmniPage Pro eliminates the need for manual retyping.

Please continue reading this chapter for information on these topics:

• What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

• The OmniPage Pro Desktop

• Getting Online Help

• Product Support

What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

8 Chapter 2

What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

Optical character recognition

(

OCR

) is the process of turning an

image

into

computer-editable text. An image is an electronic picture of text such as

a scanned paper document or an electronic fax file. Images do not have

editable text characters; they have many tiny dots (

pixels

) that together

form a picture of text.

During OCR, OmniPage Pro analyzes an image and defines characters

to produce editable text. After OCR, you can save the resulting text to a

variety of word-processing, page layout, and spreadsheet applications.

OmniPage Pro’s OCR Capabilities

In addition to text recognition, OmniPage Pro can retain the following

elements of a document during OCR.

Graphics

Photos, logos, and drawings are examples of graphics.

Text formatting

Font types, font sizes, and font styles (such as bold or

italic

) are examples

of text formatting.

Page formatting

Column structure, paragraph spacing, table formats, and placement of

graphics are examples of page formatting.

The graphics, text formatting, and page formatting elements that

OmniPage Pro retains are determined by the settings you select. See

“Settings Guidelines” on page 51 for more information.

OmniPage Pro only recognizes machine-printed characters such as

laser-printed or typewritten text. However, it can retain handwritten

text, such as a signature, as a graphic.

What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

Introduction to OmniPage Pro 9

Basic Steps of OmniPage Pro OCR

These are the basic steps of OmniPage Pro’s OCR process.

1 Bring a document image into OmniPage Pro.

You can scan a paper document or load an image file. The

resulting image appears in OmniPage Pro’s image viewer. See

“Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro” on page 20 for

more information.

2 Create zones to identify areas you want to recognize as

text or retain as graphics.

Zones

are borders that enclose the areas of a document image that

will get processed. You can create zones automatically, manually,

or with a template. Any areas not enclosed by zones are ignored

during OCR. See “Creating Zones for OCR” on page 22 for more

information.

3 Perform OCR to convert text information into editable

text characters.

During OCR, OmniPage Pro interprets text characters in an image.

After OCR, you can check and correct errors in the text using the

OCR Proofreader. See “Performing OCR on a Document” on page

23 for more information.

4 Export the document to the desired location.

You can save your document to a specified file format, place it on

the Clipboard, or send it as a mail attachment. See “Exporting

Documents” on page 34 for more information.

There are different ways to start the OCR process in OmniPage Pro. See

“Ways to Process Documents” on page 18 for more information.

The OmniPage Pro Desktop

10 Chapter 2

The OmniPage Pro Desktop

OmniPage Pro’s desktop displays the pages of an open document in its

thumbnail viewer, image viewer, and text viewer. You can use buttons

in the Standard, AutoOCR, and Zone toolbars to perform various tasks

on the document.

The

thumbnail

viewer

displays a

picture of

each page

in the

document.

The image viewer

displays the current

page’s original image.

The text viewer displays the

current page’s recognized

text and retained graphics.

AutoOCR

toolbar

Zone

toolbar

Drag this splitter to

the left or right to

resize a viewer.

The current

page is

highlighted

with a light

border

around it.

Standard

toolbar

The OmniPage Pro Desktop

Introduction to OmniPage Pro 11

AutoOCR Toolbar

The AutoOCR

®

toolbar contains buttons that can activate each step of

the OCR process.

You can set different commands in the AutoOCR toolbar buttons for the

operations you want to perform. Choose a command using each

buttons’s drop-down list.

• The AUTO button allows you to activate automatic processing or

use the OCR Wizard.

•The Image

button allows you to bring in images by scanning or

loading pages.

• The Zone button allows you to automatically create zones on

images based on their original page layouts or predefined

templates.

• The OCR button allows you to perform OCR, train characters for

OCR, or schedule OCR at a later time.

• The Export button allows you to save, copy, or send your

recognized document as a mail attachment.

Please see “Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands” on page 40 for more

information on each toolbar button. Also see the separately enclosed

OmniPage Pro 9 Reference card, which shows all available AutoOCR

toolbar commands.

AUTO

button

Image

button

Zone

button

OCR

button

Export

button

Click the down arrow to

display the commands in a

button’s drop-down list.

The OmniPage Pro Desktop

12 Chapter 2

Standard Toolbar

The Standard toolbar contains buttons and a drop-down list for

performing standard tasks.

Zone Toolbar

The Zone toolbar contains buttons that allow you to draw and define

zones on a page image.

See “Customizing Zones” on page 63 for more information.

New

Open

Save

Print

Proofread

OCR

Cut

Copy

Paste

Undo

View

Image

Editor

Options

Rotate

Image

Straighten

Image

Zoom

Help

Draw

Rectangular

Zones

Draw

Irregular

Zones

Zone

Properties

Reorder

Zones

Add to

Zone

Subtract

from

Zone

Insert

Column

Dividers

Remove Row or

Column Dividers

Move Row

or Column

Dividers

Remove/Replace

All Row and

Column Dividers

Insert

Row

Dividers

Table

tools

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Nuance OmniPage Pro 9.0 Operating instructions

Nuance OmniPage Pro 9.0 Operating instructions

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